Four Seasons aiming to cure its financial woes by year end

EMBATTLED Four Seasons Health Care Group has vowed to resolve its financial problems by the end of the year.

The Cheshire-based company, owned by Guy Hands’ private equity firm Terra Firma, is paying £55m a year in interest paying in the wake of his acquisition of Four Seasons in 2012.

Terra Firma coughed up £825m in the deal – of that £525m was loans – leaving the Wilmslow company with many lenders to pay back.

 “We don’t think the capital structure is right for the long-term needs of the business,” chairman Robbie Barr said in The Evening Standard.

“We have started to engage with bondholders, landlords and key stakeholders with a view to restructuring the balance sheet and the economics of the business,” he added.

“All options are open and I am not going to speculate what the solution might look like but we’re going to come up with a new capital structure by the end of the year.”

Four Seasons  fortunes improved in the last quarter, with the number of residents reaching a two-year high. Underlying earnings were at their highest since 2014 at £13.6m.